Box Notes private beta unveils, hopes to take on Google Docs

Box has unveiled a new service similar to Google Docs in that it will let users form ideas collaboratively and create content directly within an app.

Called Box Notes, the service sports many feature found within Google Docs, Evernote and other similar collaborative word processors. On top of collaboration, the service also hopes to streamline sharing. For instance, if a user creates a note in a folder where he or she is already collaborating with others, then they won't have to do anything to share it. The collaborators will already have access.

Through a blog post on Box's website, Jonathan Berger, product manager, explained the premise behind Box Notes: "Our belief is that existing word processors have overshot the market, building ever more complex features, many of them still related to printing documents.

"At the opposite end of the spectrum, social communication and messaging applications have enabled new forms of continuous productivity not previously seen in the workplace. Box Notes is a blend of these two categories."

Users can sign up now to request access to Box Notes' private beta, but Box said it plannrf to "make it available to as many people as possible in the coming weeks". The Next Web reported that Box Notes wouldn’t fully release until 2014 though, and there's also no word on how much it will cost (Box's existing cloud storage platform has various plans and pricing options).

Box Notes is available only on the desktop, though mobile apps are coming. Berger said other updates were in the works too, such as offline editing, support for videos and more. Check out the promo video of Box Notes below.